A Tale of Two Brothers
by RabidRaccoon
Summary: A new character enters Inuyasha's life, but is it friend or foe? And what is the meaning of the ambiguous dream that haunts Inuyasha's subconscious? Find out in: A Tale of Two Brothers


A Tale of Two Brothers 

A/N: I would like to thank my β readers goldfish demon & Jimborg; they really helped me get this done. Oh yes, and please, read & review.

Chapter 1

_A lone woman stood at the edge of a seemingly endless meadow. There was nothing but grass and flowers as far as the eyes could see. Save of course, for the two young boys that the woman watched as they frolicked among the wild grass and flowers. She watched her two boys as they raced and as they wrestled and as they did anything a five-year-old boy might do with his three-year-old brother when their mother took them on an outing. _

_In all of their games, the older of the two always won. He was sure though, not to win by too much, as he did not want his little brother to think lowly of himself. _

_They were wrestling around when it happened; it was one of their favourite games. One would close his eyes and count as high as he was able, (which never did get past seven.) while the other would attempt to disguise himself among the grass and flowers. When the counter was being the least attentive, the hider would tackle him to the ground and they would wrestle around some more until one managed to pin the other. _

_When the older brother was the one hiding, he made sure to bury himself rather deeply in a patch of particularly long grass and large, red flowers. The younger of the two counted to four before he could no longer remember any numbers and turned around only to be tackled rather harshly by his older brother. _

_As soon as his younger brother hit the ground, the older knew that something was wrong. His brother was not responding exuberantly as was his custom. Instead, he looked like he was trying and failing to hold back a fresh group of hot, fat tears. _

_Upon immediate investigation, the older discovered that he had tackled his brother into a very well disguised rock. Never being much for consoling someone, all the older said was, "Get up already. When our other brother tackled me, he did a lot more than make me hit my back on a rock."_

_Despite his best efforts to get his brother to stop crying, the older just didn't seem to have a knack for it. He called their mother over to them, thinking that she would be able to remedy this situation. _

_There was however, no time for the mother to reach her two sons. A gigantic bear demon rose out of the forest on the western edge of the meadow and made it clear that whatever it wanted was either in, or across the meadow, and nothing was going to stop it from getting what it wanted. _

Inuyasha woke up in a cold sweat and he was panting heavily, this wasn't unusual for him, he had been waking up like this for some time now.

He quickly calmed down and steadied himself on the tree branch he had been sleeping in. It was still night, a small breeze blew against his face, he looked around the campsite, to make sure everyone was asleep, before getting down from the tree.

He walked past his sleeping companions; Kagome and Shippo were sleeping under his tree while Sango and Miroku were sleeping across the fire, now burnt out, from each other. The hanyou walked through some trees until he came to a small clearing in the forest and sat down in the moonlight.

_Why does this dream continue to haunt me? _He thought to himself.

_These stupid memories, Aaaaarrrgh! It's been more than fifty years since I was that young. Why did this dream choose to appear now? It has been at least a week now since I've gotten a decent night sleep. What does that little hanyou have to do with me? It is always the same; the two of us are playing in a field and wrestling each other. I was always pinning him down and one of the times he landed on a rock. I helped him the best I could, but you could see I wasn't very good judging by the tears streaming down his face that he was unsuccessfully trying to suppress. I just felt so comfortable around him. Then, almost out of nowhere, he perks up with his nose in the air. I wondered why for only a little while before a large bear demon broke through the wall the trees had made. The animal's roar hurt my ears because of its strength; it was at least forty feet in height. As it charged towards us, baring its teeth, it left craters in the ground. The hanyou sprung into action jumping at the creature with all his might, but the attempt was useless and the great creature hit him with one of its monstrous arms. I was the next one to attack but my result was the same I landed on my arm; which broke on impact. I kept my eyes open only long enough to see the beast carry the hanyou away, then I black out. Who was it? I don't remember it at all. Hmm._ His dream had consumed his thoughts so much that he didn't realize it was morning.

Sango woke from her pleasant dream to the sound of Kagome's voice.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. "Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled louder, this time waking up Miroku and Shippo.

"What is it Kagome?" The half-awake slayer asked.

"Oh, sorry Sango. It's just, Inuyasha is missing, and normally he's up before any of us." The young priestess replied.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon, don't worry about it."

As if on cue, Inuyasha walked back to the campsite, no longer thinking about last night.

"Inuyasha, you're back!" Kagome exclaimed, "I was so worried."

"Mneh." Was the hanyou's only reply.

"What do you mean 'Mneh'! I was worried about you and you don't even care! You could have been hurt!" Kagome was clearly angry now and it was obvious to everyone what was coming next.

"Sit boy!"

Inuyasha's skull slammed into the path, leaving him in a painful confusion.

"What the hell was that for you crazy wench?" The now recovered, Inuyasha yelled.

"For making me worry so much!" Kagome replied at the same tone.

"If she was scared I'd get hurt why did she do that?" mumbled Inuyasha.

Sango quickly intervened, knowing the argument would only escalate "We should get going, shouldn't we?"

"Whatever, as long as we get somewhere." Inuyahsa responded, rather exasperated. Sango thought for a moment to ask him what was wrong; but having seen Inuyasha in these moods before, she thought it better for her personal safety if she didn't get on the subject. She was just relieved that they were moving again.

Inuyasha was walking ahead by quite a distance, Sango and Miroku were walking beside each other along with Shippo and Kirara, and finally Kagome was in the back walking alone, clearly bothered with what Inuyasha had said.

_He's right; I really shouldn't have sat him. It's just it isn't like I can tell him how I feel. No. He wouldn't understand. He still loves Kikyo. He'd do anything for her._ Kagome's immediate anger at even _thinking_ of her rival in love was so intense that Kagome was lucky not to be holding anything glass. She was so lost in her own thoughts and internal struggles that she didn't notice Sango fall back to talk to her.

"Kagome, are you alright?" Sango asked. "You seem depressed."

The voice broke her train of thought, giving her a small shock.

"Huh? Oh, yah, I'm fine." She said, immediately perking up, so as to hide her true feelings. She, now, recognized the person talking to her; it was Sango the only person who could see through the lie her face had made.

"It's Inuyasha, isn't it?" Sango said, obviously concerned.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he likes you too." Sango assured her. "Inuyasha isn't the kind of guy who's going to come straight out and confess his undying love for you. So don't let it bother you, okay?"

"Sango, I don't want Inuyasha to like me; I want him to love me." Kagome said, hanging her head once again.

"You want too much from him, and no offense, but you haven't opened up to him much either." Sango said logically. "Personally, I kind of envy you. I've got Miroku confessing his undying love for my backside every waking minute of his life; and sometimes he's confessing it when he's not so awake." On that note, Sango quickened her pace, both effectively ending the conversation and avoiding Miroku's wandering hand.

Kagome continued along the beaten road with her friends barely keeping up. _Maybe Sango is right, _Kagome thought almost dejectedly to herself._ Inuyasha isn't going to just jump right out and say he's in love with me. _

Kagome calmed herself and caught up with her companions with a bright smile on her face. She was welcomed by Shippo, who was overjoyed to see her happy. Kagome, no longer distracted, was able to notice the two-shikon jewel shards that lay ahead of them.

"Inuyasha!"

"Yah, what?"

"I sense two sacred jewel shards."

"Where?" His irritated and apathetic attitude immediately dispelled by the mere mention of sacred jewel shards.

"Just ahead."

"Got it." Inuyasha leapt into action and ran off in the direction Kagome had indicated.

It wasn't long before he caught a familiar scent. "Figures, as if I'm not having a bad enough day." He said, as he came over a hill and confirmed his suspicion. He looked upon the wolf demon that was only fifty feet from where he was standing. But there was something wrong. Koga wasn't running Inuyahsa over or striking some stupid heroic pose for Kagome. He was standing in a defensive position as if there was something attacking him; and by the looks of the blood pouring out of fresh cuts and the scars of wounds quick to heal, he wasn't faring very well at all. At that time the rest of the group caught up with him, and it took them no time to see the battered wolf standing there, barely holding onto his consciousness.

"Koga!" Kagome screamed, as she ran towards Koga, who had just fallen to the ground.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled, quickly following her, Tetusaiga drawn, down the other side of the hill leaving Sango and Miroku still on the top.

"Oh Kagome, he came out of nowhere and attacked me." Koga feigned critical injury as Kagome approached him.

"You're not usually one to play the victim, Koga." Inuyasha teased, enjoying the sight of Koga in pain.

"Inuyasha! Sit!" Kagome refocused on Koga "Who was it Koga?"

"It looked like…" Koga was forced to cut his explanation short.

"There you are!" A tall figure emerged from the tree line that was surrounding the area. "I'm going to kill you here and now you mangy wolf."

The figure became more visible now; it was male and had long white hair that ended half way down his back, and sitting on his head were two white dog ears just like Inuyasha's. He was wearing a black samurai outfit that had two large spikes on each shoulder with a red under-shirt. He was slowly walking towards them with his gigantic sword drawn, staring coldly at Koga's injured body.

Kagome broke out of her stare, stood up, drew out her bow, and pulled out an arrow.

"Stop!"

The figure stopped and looked at her, before shrugging her off and continuing to walk "You're not worth my time girl, so get out of the way."

"I said stop!" She let fly her arrow straight at the supposed attacker but he easily dodged to the left.

"As I said, not worth my time."

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha for help but he seemed to be entranced by the newcomer.

"Get out of my way human." The mysterious figure repeated in a detached and disaffected manner.

"No!" She had made up her mind; she would defend Koga to the death.

"Then I will just have to kill you as well!" With that, he lifted his sword and ran as fast as he could at the three of them.

"Die!"

A/N: Suspenseful isn't it? Hope you enjoyed I will update it soon with chapter two. Please Read & Review.


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